Kathleen Edwins

Kathleen Edwins (1946-) was Mayor of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in 2000, preceding Elsie Stephens.

Biography
Kathleen Edwins was born in the Fulwell district of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England in 1946, the daughter of a World War II veteran and miner. Edwins grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family, and she studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1969. She specialized in business law, and she took part in lawsuits against the National Union of Mineworkers during the Miners' strike of 1984-85. Edwins became involved in her local Conservative Party and soon rose to be its chair. In 2000, she was elected to the Sunderland City Council as head of the Conservative delegation; the Conservatives won 11/30 City Council seats, placing behind the Labour Party with 16/30 seats and ahead of UKIP with 3/30 seats. Edwins was never expected to be Mayor of Sunderland, a Labour stronghold, but support from the UKIP delegation and from four Labour defectors allowed for Edwins to defeat Labour leader Elsie Stephens 16-11 and become Mayor.

Tenure
The City Council's first act was to vote 28-0 in favor of a UKIP-proposed public housing law which created state-funded council estates. The Council went on to vote 25-1 in favor of term limits for the Mayor, 14-13 to abolish the consumption tax, 19-6 in favor of an income tax, and 28-0 in favor of agriculture research. In the late 2000 election, Labour fell to 51.74% and 16 seats, the Tories rose to 38.08% and 11 seats, and UKIP rose to 10.18% and 3 seats, maintaining the prior seat count. In this election, Edwins failed to win the support of the 4 Labour defectors, only winning one; as a result, Stephens defeated her 15-13.